Shiner Bock Beer Cheese Soup

Cancy & I love the beach. Specifically, we love the beach in Port Aransas. J I was trying to find a recipe for Beer Cheese Soup the other day and came across this one on the website for one of the Corpus Christi news stations. It’s from Fins Grill & Icehouse in Port Aransas, which we also love. If you ever make it down to Port A, this is a great place to sit on the deck and watch the boats come in & out while you enjoy some really good food.

 

We’re headed down to Port A this weekend & I can’t wait to stop there. Oh and the soup? Yeah, it was fantastic. If you know my husband, you know he likes Shiner Bock so for us, Shiner Bock & lots of cheese… How could it possibly be a bad thing??? I made just a couple changes to the Fins original just to save a pot and to use my KitchenAid immersion blender (Which I feel I don’t use enough. It’s kind of fun.) Anyway, Enjoy!!

Shiner Bock Beer Cheese Soup

2 pound block Velveeta white cheese ( I used lower fat 2% version)
2 carrots diced
1 small yellow onion medium chop
4 cups low sodium chicken stock
1 12 oz Shiner Bock beer
2 Tbsp oil

 

In saute pan, heat oil and saute carrots and onions until onions are caramelized. Add chicken stock and stir together. Using an immersion blender, blend the carrots & onions into the broth so you are left with a smooth, blended  soup base.

 

Let this simmer while you cube the cheese into small pieces. Add to soup base. Cover tightly and heat until cheese is completely melted into stock.

 

Add beer and heat through.

 

Garnish with bacon bits and fresh green onions. (I used turkey bacon & also added some Annie’s Organic Cheddar Bunnies.)

 

Chicken Cordon Blue Casserole

I’ve come to the conclusion that casseroles just do not photograph well. The Chicken Cordon Casserole tasted a lot better than it looks. This actually came together by cleaning out the fridge a little bit. Well, that & this is for sure the lazy girl’s version of a Chicken Cordon Bleu. I just wanted to throw everything together and bake so now filling, breading, and rolling here. Just a nice easy chop, dice, layer & bake. J I hope you like it.

Chicken Cordon Blue Casserole

2 large or 3 normal sized chicken breasts

1/4 pound sliced honey ham

1/4 pound sliced Swiss cheese

1 red onion, diced

1 tsp Nutmeg

1 Tbsp whole wheat or white flour

2 Tbsp Dijon Mustard

1 1/2 Cups of Fat Free ½ & ½

1 Cup plain breadcrumbs

3 Tbsp Butter

 

Boil Chicken until done, remove and dice. In same pan, cook ham just until it starts to brown. In a greased 8 x 8 dish, layer the diced chicken, sliced ham, and 1/2 of the Swiss cheese. Set aside.

 

Sauté diced onion until it starts to turn slightly golden. Sprinkle Nutmeg & flour over onion and cook the flour for about a minute. Add the ½ & ½ to the pan & the Dijon mustard. Cook until it thickens, about 3-5 minutes,

 

Pour onion mixture over layers already in the pan. Top that with the remaining Swiss cheese. Melt butter & toss with breadcrumbs. Sprinkle that over top.

 

Bake @ 350 for about 30-40 minutes.

 

Ale-Braised Sausages with Bell Peppers

This originally is from Williams Sonoma. I came across is when Katie of Good Things Catered posted it. It comes together super fast and is a really easy weeknight dish.

Ale-Braised Sausages with Bell Peppers

2 Tbs. olive oil

2 lb. cooked sausages, such as kielbasa, sliced

1/2  large yellow onion, thinly sliced

1 large red bell pepper, seeded and sliced (I cheated & used a 12oz can of fire-roasted red & yellow peppers)

2 Tbs. all-purpose flour

1 cup ale

1/2 cup apple cider

3 Tbs. chopped fresh thyme

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Mashed potatoes for serving

In a Dutch oven over medium-high heat, warm the olive oil. Add the sausages and cook, stirring and turning often, until browned, 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate.

Add the onion and bell pepper to the pot, reduce the heat to medium, and sauté until tender and golden, about 5 minutes. Add the flour and cook, stirring, until golden, 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk in the ale and cider until the mixture is smooth and bubbly. Add the thyme and broth, whisking to blend, and bring to a simmer.

Return the sausages to the pot. Cover, reduce the heat to medium-low and cook until the flavors are blended, about 15 minutes. Uncover and simmer until the sauce is slightly reduced, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Divide the sausages and sauce among warmed plates and serve immediately with mashed potatoes alongside. Serves 4 to 6.

 

 

 

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

This recipe comes from our Port Aransas cookbook that we got down in Port A when we got married. We’ve been back a handful of times since then and enjoy it each and every time. I got the cookbook out because I started thinking about Port A again since we started to plan a trip down there at the end of the month with Cody & Carol.

I’ve made this recipe a few times and am going to put it in my own words as the original instructions are a bit all over the place. This is a great Fall type dish and a good way to get some vegetables. We’ve made just a couple of ingredient substitutions, but here is how we like it.

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

12 Large Cabbage leaves

1 lb Ground Turkey

1 Beaten Egg

1/4 C Milk

1/4 C finely chopped onion

1 Tsp Salt

1 Tsp pepper

1 Tsp lemon pepper

1 C Cooked Rice

1 8oz can of Tomato Sauce

1 Tbsp Brown Sugar

1 Tbsp Lemon Juice

1 Tbsp Worcestershire

Start by browning your ground turkey. Season your ground turkey as it browns with garlic salt & lemon pepper. When this is done, drain and set aside.

Start water boiling in a large pot for your cabbage. The easiest way that I’ve found to get the leaves off is to submerge the whole head of cabbage for a couple of minutes and pull it out, taking as many leaves off as you can easily. Submerge again until you can pull a few more off. You want to keep the leaves as in tact as possible. Do this until you have about 12 whole leaves.

In a large bowl, combine the ground turkey, egg, milk, onion, spices, & rice. Mix well. Take about 1/4 C of this mix and put into the center of a leaf. Fold in the sides, then fold up the bottom until it looks like a little burrito. Place them seam side down in the Crockpot until you have gone through your leaves or ran out of stuffing.

In another bowl, combine the tomato sauce, brown sugar, lemon juice, & Worcestershire. Pour this over your little cabbage burritos and put the lid on the Crockpot. Cook these in the Crockpot on low for about 6 hours.

 

 

Fall Harvest Bread

I’ve joined a Fall recipe swap and received this recipe in my email this morning. I only made one ingredient change in the recipe since we don’t really like raisins, I added toasted walnuts instead.

 

This was delicious. It made the house smell like fall and tastes like the perfect combination of everything you think about when you think of Fall. Enjoy!!

Fall Harvest Bread

 

1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. freshly-grated nutmeg
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. dark brown sugar
7.5 oz. canned pumpkin (one small can)
2 large eggs
1/4 c. oil
1/4 c. applesauce
1/4 c. apple juice
1/2 small apple, peeled, cored, and diced
1/3 c. dried cranberries
1/3 c. golden raisins ( I subbed toasted Walnuts for the raisins)

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

 

Spray 9x5 loaf pan (or can sub muffin pan or double recipe for cake/bundt pan) with baking spray.

 

Combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt in bowl.

 

Combine sugars, pumpkin, eggs, oil, applesauce, and juice in large bowl. Mix until just blended.

 

Add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture and stir until just moistened.

 

Fold in apples, cranberries, and raisins.

 

Spoon batter into prepared pan (it will be lumpy).

 

Bake for 60-70 minutes or until wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean.

French Onion Soup

I was craving French Onion soup last week, and since it’s finally started to get a little more Fall-like in the evenings around here, I figured I could make a nice tasty Fall Soup. French Onion Soup is pretty easy to make and the way we finish it, you don’t need to have the fancy little soup crocks to go in the oven. I hope you like it!!

French Onion Soup

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

2 medium red onions, thinly sliced

2 medium yellow onions, thinly sliced

Salt and black pepper

1 bay leaf, fresh or dried

3/4 cup red wine

4 cups beef stock

1 small loaf of French bread

2 1/2 cups shredded Gruyere

Heat a deep pot over medium heat. Add oil and butter to the pot. Add onions to the pot as you slice them. When all of the onions are in the pot, season with salt and pepper. Cook onions for about 15 minutes, stirring frequently, until tender & caramel colored. Add bay leaf and red wine to the pot and deglaze the pan. Add 4 cups beef stock and cover pot to bring soup to a boil.

Slice your French bread on the bias into 1” slices.  Preheat broiler to high. Sprinkle each slice with the shredded Gruyere cheese, leaving about 1/4 cheese. Broil until cheese just starts to brown. While broiling, Ladle the soup into bowls, sprinkle with remaining Gruyere cheese. Take bread from oven and float 1 piece on the soup.

We served the soup with the remaining bread on the side to use as ‘dippers’.

Ravioli Chicken Broccoli Alfredo

I wanted something easy tonight since I had lots of random things to do around the house. I’ve had this recipe starred in my Google reader for awhile now. This comes from Clara @ iheartfoodforthought.

I scaled her recipe down to an 8 x 8 baking dish since it’s just Cancy & I. Plus this gives us some leftovers to freeze for later. Oh, we added a whole bunch of black pepper to this before mixing just to give it that extra little something. Enjoy!!

Ravioli Chicken Broccoli Alfredo

1 lbs pre-packaged 4-cheese ravioli, cooked and drained
1 1/2 cups frozen broccoli florets, defrosted
1 pound of boiled skinless chicken strips, diced
Alfredo sauce (I cheated tonight & used a jarred light alfredo sauce)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, divided
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.

Coat the bottom of an 8 ×8 glass baking dish with a thin layer of alfredo sauce. In a medium bowl, mix the ravioli, broccoli, chicken, garlic, alfredo sauce, 1/2 of the mozzarella cheese until combined. (Be careful not to mix too hard that you tear the ravioli.)

Place mixture into baking dish and top with the rest of the mozzarella and parmesan cheese.

Bake for 20 minutes or until cheese is hot and bubbly. Set to broil for additional 5 minutes if you want it more toasty!

 

 

 

 

Taco Bake

This recipe comes was inspired by a recipe I found on Lovestoeat.  I made some changes to use what we had on hand. The picture doesn’t do this meal any justice. I’m posting it, but please know it tastes much better than it looks.

Taco Bake

1 lb. ground turkey
1 package taco seasoning
1 can RoTel
8 oz. small pasta
4 oz cream cheese (softened in microwave)
1/4 c. sour cream
8 oz. shredded queso fresco

Brown ground turkey, drain. Add taco seasoning and RoTel. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 20 minutes.

In the meantime, cook pasta according to directions. Drain. Mix softened cream cheese and sour cream in separate bowl.

Spray bottom of 8 x 8 pan with Pam. Put pasta in bottom of pan. Spread cream cheese mixture over pasta. (This is kind of hard to do. Just dollop spoonfuls of the mixture about an inch apart and spread the best you can.) Spoon ground beef mixture over this. Sprinkle shredded cheese on top.

Bake @ 350 for 30 minutes. Cool about 15 - 20 minutes before serving.

Ben & Jerry's Cantaloupe Ice Cream

I love Cantaloupe. Cancy loves Ice Cream. I had a fresh Organic Cantaloupe from Whole Foods sitting in our fridge, wanting to be made into something good. I came across this recipe… Now I had a plan.

We tried this recipe tonight and turned out great. There’s a lot going on in this recipe so it’s nice to make this recipe with someone else. It makes a whole bunch of Ice Cream. We actually had some of the mix leftover because it wouldn’t fit in the Ice Cream Maker. All in all, it was the very best Cantaloupe ice Cream that I’ve ever had.

Ben & Jerry's Cantaloupe Ice Cream

1 large Cantaloupe, very ripe
1 Lemon, juice of
Ben & Jerry's Sweet Cream Base*

Cut the cantaloupe in half and clean out the seeds. Scoop the fruit into a mixing bowl, add the lemon juice, and mash until the fruit is purred. Drain the juice into another bowl and reserve. Cover the melon puree and refrigerate. Prepare the sweet cream base and whisk in the fruit juice. Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze following the manufacturer's instructions. After the ice cream stiffens, about 2 minutes before it is done, add the cantaloupe. if more juice has accumulated, do not pour it in because it will water down the ice cream. Continue freezing until the ice cream is ready. Makes 1 generous quart.

*Sweet cream Base:
2 Large Eggs
3/4 Cup Sugar
2 Cup Heavy or whipping cream
1 Cup Milk

Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Whisk in the sugar, a little at a time, then continue to whisk until completely blended, about 1 minute more. Pour in the cream and milk and whisk to blend.
Makes 1 quart.

 

 

Roasted Chicken with Balsamic Vinaigrette

I have had this recipe from Polly stored in my Google Reader forever. This originally is a Giada de Laurentiis recipe. I love balsamic vinegar so this was perfect. I made it this time using chicken thighs, but I think this would be even better using boneless/skinless chicken breasts.

Anyway the vinegar, Dijon, lemon zest, & parsley all play really well together in this dish. We had this with rice pilaf & green beans. I hope you like it. J

Roasted Chicken with Balsamic Vinaigrette

1/2 c. balsamic vinegar
1/4 c. fresh lemon juice
1/4 c. Dijon mustard
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/2 c. olive oil
Chicken, cut into 6 pieces (I used chicken thighs, but breasts would be delicious too) chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tsp. grated lemon zest

In a 13×9x2″ baking dish whisk the vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, garlic, salt and pepper to blend.  Whisk in the oil.  Add the chicken pieces and turn to coat.  Cover and refrigerate, turning the chicken pieces occasionally, for at least 2 hours and up to 1 day.

(I added all of the marinade ingredients to a Ziploc bag, shook it around and added my chicken, squeezed out all the air, and used that to keep everything in until I was ready to cook)

Preheat the oven to 400F.  Roast the chicken uncovered until just cooked through, about 45 minutes.  Using tongs, transfer the chicken to a serving platter.  Carefully pour the cooking liquid into a small, heavy saucepan and spoon off the excess oil from atop the cooking liquid.  Boil until the liquid reduces by about half and thickens slightly, about 8 minutes.

Pour the sauce over the chicken.  Sprinkle the parsley and lemon zest over the chicken and serve. 

If the chicken gets too dark too quickly, cover it with foil, taking the foil off for the last 10 minutes of roasting.

 





 

 

Crockpot Hamburger Stew

I was trying to think of something to make with the crockpot today and Cancy mentioned Hamburger Stew. It was one of his bachelor foods. There’s no real recipe for this. We just went through the pantry and grabbed things that would work together. It smelled really good simmering away in the crockpot all day. And for as simple as it is, it tastes delicious.

 

Crockpot Hamburger Stew

1 pound hamburger

1/2 Onion, chopped

1/2 Cup of carrots, chopped

2 cloves chopped garlic

1 packet of taco seasoning

1/2 packet of ranch seasoning

1 can Rotel

1 can Ranch Style Beans

1 can Mexicorn, drained

1 can sliced new potatoes, drained

1 small can mushrooms, drained

1 small can chopped green chiles

4 cups beef broth

1 Cup of small pasta

This makes a lot. Make sure that your crockpot is at least 5qts.

Brown the hamburger with the chopped onions, carrots, & garlic on the stove top. While browning, add the taco seasoning & ranch seasoning. Drain the fat.

Open all of your cans, and dump them into the crockpot. Drain the corn and the potatoes, but add the rest of the can liquid to the crockpot.

After adding all of the canned items into the crockpot, add the browned meat and the 4 cups of broth. Stir to mix.

Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours. Cancy says the long this cooks, the better it tastes, so try to go the whole time. Add the small pasta about 30-45 minutes before you are ready to eat and continue cooking on low.

Top with green onions when serving & a sprinkling of shredded cheese.

Carb-Tastic Man Food… aka: The Fried Potato Sandwich

So Cancy’s favorite once in awhile snack has finally made an appearance on the blog. He cooked this for lunch today. I guess it takes him back to his childhood. This is true Southern Food.

This is really not the healthiest thing in the world, however I have a feeling this is something that Paula Deen would love. It tastes pretty good, but I feel guilty if I eat more than 1/2 a sandwich because I know how much I’d need to work out to work it off. But for the every so often snack, why not try the Fried Potato Sandwich. J

Carb-Tastic Man Food… aka: The Fried Potato Sandwich

4 medium size red potatoes

4 slices of white bread

Yellow Mustard

Vegetable Oil

Slice potatoes thinly. Brown potatoes in hot oil until crispy. Drain on paper towels and season with salt & pepper.

Spread mustard on the bread. Add cooked potatoes to 2 of the 4 slices of bread. Top with remaining bread. Eat warm.

Cornbread & Crab Stuffed Poblano Peppers

I found this recipe while at the grocery store last week. My grocery store has these little cooking demos going on all the time and they work from a monthly sale flyer that has recipes in there. Because HEB is Texas based, grocery store, their recipes usually have a little southern flair to them and my husband tends to like their recipes. So here is a super easy weeknight meal that goes great with avocado slices & black beans.

I did edit it slightly. The original, makes 10 stuffed peppers and since I was just cooking for Cancy & I, we trimmed it down a bit.

Cornbread & Crab Stuffed Poblano Peppers

1 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
1 packages (6 oz. each) Mexican Style Cornbread Mix
2 Poblano Peppers
Aluminum Foil
5 oz. Lump Crabmeat
1/4 cup Shredded Mexican Blend Cheese
 
Whisk eggs and milk together in a bowl. Add cornbread mix and stir just enough to moisten. Set aside. Slice peppers in half lengthwise and remove seeds and ribs.

On a non-stick baking sheet, crumple foil to make a cradle for each pepper half. They need to lay flat for baking.

Divide Crabmeat between each pepper shell. Then spoon cornbread batter over crab meat. Sprinkle tops with shredded cheese and bake at 400°F until golden brown.

 

Grilled Fajita Bowls

Think of this recipe as a way to use the vegetables in your refrigerator. You can play with the ingredients here to use what you have. It’s a super easy weeknight meal, just start your marinade before you leave for work and it will all cook up pretty quickly.

Grilled Fajita Bowls

1 1/2 to 2 pounds of skirt steak/fajita meat

Marinade: Worcestershire Sauce, Lime Juice, White Vinegar, Liquid Smoke, Red Chili Flakes, Olive Oil.

Vegetables: red/green pepper, onions, whatever you feel like.

Rice: Any Spanish Rice will do. I have a super easy Spanish rice recipe here,  in my blog.

Marinade your fajita meat for at least 8-12 hours. Start your meat on a medium heat on the grill.

Slice up your veggies and sprinkle with some red pepper flakes, salt & pepper. Put these on a piece of foil with a Tbsp of butter & make into a little foil packet. Set this on the grill with your fajita meat & turn grill down to low.

While meat and veggies are on the grill, cook your rice. When the meat is ready to come off the grill, slice on the bias into little strips.

When ready to serve, Put rice in the bowl, layer your fajita meat & grilled vegetables on top. We also topped ours with a dollop of sour cream & guacamole as well as some shredded cheese.

 

 

Cheddar - Topped Shepherd’s Pie

This recipe comes from Martha Stewart’s Magazine, Everyday Food. I haven’t tried to make Shepherd’s Pie yet, so this looked like a good one to try. I changed the quantities in Martha’s recipe so I could do this in an 8-by-8 pan. So this recipe is about 4 big servings instead of the original recipe’s 8. also, I used ground turkey and skim milk instead of beef & whole milk.

This one was hard to photograph well though. My potato’s kept sort of oozing down the sides over the filling. It tastes much better than it looks. I hope you like it…

Cheddar - Topped Shepherd’s Pie

1 pound red potatoes (about 4), we left the skins on

Coarse salt and ground pepper

1 tablespoon vegetable oil, such as safflower

3 medium carrots, halved lengthwise, quartered if large, and thinly sliced

3 celery stalks, thinly sliced

1/2 large onion, chopped

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/8 cup all-purpose flour

1/8 cup tomato paste

1 pounds ground turkey

1/2 cup skim milk

1 cup shredded sharp white cheddar

 

Preheat oven to 450. Place potatoes in a large saucepan, and cover by 1 inch with salted water. Bring to a boil; reduce to a simmer. Cook until potatoes are easily pierced with the tip of a paring knife, 15 to 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a 5-quart Dutch oven or heavy pot over medium-high. Add carrots, celery, onion, and thyme. Cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Add flour and tomato paste; cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add turkey; cook, stirring occasionally, until no longer pink, 6 to 8 minutes. Add 1/2 cup water; bring to a boil, and simmer 1 minute. Set filling aside.

Drain potatoes; return to pan. Cook over medium, stirring, until liquid has evaporated and a thin film covers bottom of pan, about 1 minute. Remove pan from heat; add milk and 1/2 cup cheese. Mash until smooth; season cheddar-potato topping with salt and pepper.

Pour beef filling into a 8-by-8-inch baking dish. Drop dollops of topping over filling; spread to edges with a spatula. Using a fork, make decorative peaks; sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese. Bake until topping is browned and filling is bubbling rapidly, about 20 minutes (if topping and filling were chilled, increase to 35 minutes). Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Creamy Chicken Wild Rice Soup

This soup really just comes together on its own. After living in Minnesota for awhile, I think this type of soup becomes a cold weather staple. I don’t think I’ve ever made this the same way twice, but that’s part of the fun. Here is one idea to get you going, but try different things it… Make it your own.

 

Creamy Chicken Wild Rice Soup

 

3 boneless, skinless chicken breast

4 C of chicken broth (you may need to add more as needed)

1 C carrots, chopped

1 C celery, diced

1 jar of button mushrooms

1 C cooked wild rice (pre cook this before you make the soup)

Seasoning (salt, pepper, Adobo seasoning, nutmeg, chicken bouillon)

1 C Fat Free 1/2 & 1/2

 

Turn your crockpot to high and add broth & chicken breasts. Meanwhile, prepare your vegetables adding them to the crockpot once finished. Add cooked wild rice.

 

Add your seasonings as desired. I like this soup a little peppery and I think that a nice complement to all of the other flavors in here, is just a little bit of nutmeg.

 

Leave this in the crockpot for an hour on high and then turn to low for 4-6 hours. When the chicken looks done, take it out and shred it into small pieces before adding back into the crockpot. When you are close to being done, add the 1/2 & 1/2. Let simmer together 1/2 hour before serving.

 

This is nice topped with green onions, cheese, you name it.

Elly's Greek Lamburgers

I knew I would find a great lamb recipe on Elly’s site. I love Greek food & Elly cooks Greek food. Pretty simple combination. I didn’t change a thing on her recipe. It’s wonderful just as she has it.

 

As for the presentation, I just served this with a simple Greek salad mixture. Tomatoes, Red Onion, Cucumber, & Kalamata olives (all topped with a little Feta cheese). To keep the carbs low, I just used 1/2 a pita for each burger. Cancy really liked these, and since it was Greek, I of course loved them.

Elly’s Greek Lamburgers

 

1 lb. ground lamb
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. allspice
1 Tbsp oregano
1/4 cup onion, finely minced or grated
2 cloves garlic, finely minced or pressed
ground pepper to taste
2 pitas, halved
olive oil

 

Mix all ingredients together and shape into four patties. (I actually made mine in half moons since we were eating them on pita halves).

Lightly grease and heat grill. Grill burgers approximately 4 minutes per side or until desired degree of doneness.

Brush or spray pita halves with olive oil and toss on the grill for about 30-60 seconds. Stuff pitas with patties and top with whatever you like!

 

 

Hatch Green Chile Stew

I love Hatch Chile season. It’s over here in central Texas, but this is one I made before freezing the rest of my chiles. Thank You to the grocery store for providing a pretty tasty little recipe. If you don’t have Hatch chiles, I’m sorry. L You could probably get pretty close to the same result if you use canned green chiles from your grocery store.

 Hatch Green Chile Stew

 

1 1/2 lb lean stew meat (approx. 3/4" cubes)

1/2 medium onion

3 C Water (I used chicken broth)

3-4 cloves of garlic, minced

8-10 roasted, peeled, & diced New Mexico Hatch Green Chiles

2-3 potatoes, diced (I used 3 small red potatoes)

Salt to taste

1/4 tsp. Cumin (We also added about 1/2 Tbsp of Goya Adobo Seasoning)

 

Sear stew meat in a large skillet, adding onions the last 5 minutes. Add water (broth) & garlic to simmer until meat is tender. (Additional water may be added if necessary) Add in Hatch chiles, potatoes, salt & cumin. Simmer until potatoes are tender.

 

** We topped our stew with some shredded Queso Blanco.

 

 

Mexican Chocolate Sherbet

Oh My Goodness, What an easy & delicious way to try out our new ice cream makers. Cate’s recipes always look amazing, but I needed a reason to buy an ice cream maker, and this recipe sent me to Bed, Bath, & Beyond. Thanks, Cate for a great excuse to go shopping. J The sherbet was delicious.

Mexican Chocolate Sherbet

3 cups whole milk

3 tablets Mexican chocolate, chopped (Nestle Abuelita)

 

In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, whisk together the milk and chocolate until all the chocolate is melted and the liquid is a uniform color.

Pour into a bowl and set in an ice bath, whisking occasionally until cool.

Transfer to an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Strawberry-Lemon Sangria

Last weekend when Cody & Carol were over, we wanted to make something to drink as well. I love Sangria so I just used what we had on hand and, Voila!! Strawberry-Lemon Sangria. Yum!!

Strawberry-Lemon Sangria

 

1 bottle of White Zin

1/2 a quart of strawberries

2 lemons

Splenda

Diet Sprite

 

Slice your strawberries & lemons and toss them in a medium size pitcher. Sprinkle with about 1/4 Cup of Splenda and let sit for about 15 minutes. Add wine to fill pitcher and refrigerate for at least 2 hours to let the flavors hang out.

When you are ready to drink, in each glass mix about 1/2  & 1/2, your wine mixture with the Diet Sprite.

Tomato, Basil, Mozzarella salad

Well, I don’t know if this really even counts as a recipe. This was just a really easy side dish to our little get together with Cody & Carol last weekend. The fresher your ingredients, the better. This is just a really simple end of summer side. Try it next time you grill.

Tomato, Basil, & Mozzarella Salad

 

4 or 5 Tomatoes (on the vine if you can)

A handful of fresh basil leaves

1 package of fresh Buffalo Mozzarella

Olive Oil

Balsamic Vinegar

 

Slice tomatoes and mozzarella.

In a 9*13 pan layer your first three ingredients. When ready to serve, drizzle with Olive Oil and Balsamic.

 

 

 

7 Layer Taco Dip

We had Cody & Carol over for dinner last Saturday. This was our very basic appetizer to get the night started. I remember someone in the family always making something similar to this for any family get-together. This is by no means, the exact recipe, but as close as I can remember. Have fun with it, add another ingredient, have fewer or more layers. Make it your own. J

7 Layer Taco Dip
2 cans fat free refried beans

2 avocados, 1 Tbps fat free sour cream, & juice of 1/2 a lime
8 oz fat free sour cream & 1/2 packet of taco seasoning
low fat shredded Mexican cheese blend

3 - 4 green onions, diced

1 small can of sliced black olives

Tomatoes, seeded/diced

Spread beans in an 8x8 dish.

Mash the Avocados, sour cream, & lime juice together making a basic guacamole. Spread on top of beans.

Mix the taco seasoning with the sour cream. You may use more or less taco seasoning depending on your tastes. We like things spicy, so I probably use closer to a whole packet. Spread the sour cream over the guacamole.
Sprinkle cheese over the top
Sprinkle drained black olives next
Sprinkle diced tomatoes

Sprinkle diced green onions